The present invention relates to chewing gum packaging systems. This invention allows two or more flavors of chewing gum to be packaged in a single multi-unit container without cross-contamination of the flavors. Specifically, a volatile-flavor adsorber is added to each container. The adsorber prevents the volatile flavors of the chewing gums from cross-contaminating each other by adsorbing the volatile components from each flavor.
Chewing gum is normally divided and shaped into individual pieces, such as sticks, tablets, balls or the like. The individual pieces are individually wrapped and placed in a multi-piece package for retail sale. Ordinarily, the individually wrapped or multi-piece packages of chewing gum are further parcelled in boxes, bags, canisters, or other containers for retail display. Moreover, the multi-unit containers are generally packed into larger receptacles for shipment to the distributors and retailers.
The usual practice is to pack only a single flavor of the gum into each of this multi-level packaging system to simplify manufacturing and distribution. Packaging single flavors also prevents cross-contamination by volatile flavor components. However, there are many instances where it would be desirable to combine packages of different flavor chewing gums into a common multi-unit container (box, bag, canister, etc.).
In the case of retail-display units, a multi-flavor packaging system provides smaller retailers with display units which maximize the variety of chewing gums and minimizes inventory and display space requirements. In addition, there are instances where the retail-display units are sold in their multi-unit configuration at the retail level. In such instances, the consumer often prefers a variety of different flavor chewing gums in each container.
In the case of shipping receptacles, a multi-flavor packaging system allows smaller shipments of different flavor chew gums to be packaged together. This negates the need to ship each flavor in a separate package.
A drawback for the multi-flavor packaging of chewing gum is that volatile flavor components from the gums tend to contaminate each other. This cross-contamination produces a muddled, inappropriate flavor perception, often called an off-note, when the chewing gum is consumed. Such off-notes are unacceptable in terms of quality control and consumer acceptance. This problem is particularly acute when more volatile flavors such as fruit flavors contaminate mint flavored products.